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FOLKWAYS RF 112

Side One

1) Minor March (June 1908) 2) Medley of Straight Jigs (December 1907) 3) Fitzmaurice Polka (June 1928) 4) Medley of German Waltzes (Nov. 1908) 5) American Cakewalk (Comp. J. Kimmel; July 1908) 6) Medley of Irish Jigs (September 1907) 7) "Oh Gee! "-Medley of Irish Reels (June 1919)

Side Two

1) Indian Intermezzo (November 1908) 2) New Tipperary March (May 1910) 3) The Black Bird-Set Dance (October 1919) 4) Geese in the Bog Medley-Irish Jigs

(January 1917) 5) Medley of Popular Reels (April 1908) 6) The Homeward March (January 1920) 7) International Echoes (Comp. Joe Linder;

November, 1916)

Selected by Gabriel Labbe Annotated by Gabriel Labbe and Richard Carlin Produced by Richard Carlin

1980 FOLKWAYS RECORDS & SERVICE CORP. 43 W. 6151 ST., N.Y.C., 10023 N.Y., U.S.A.

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RETUR TO ARCHI E CENTER FOR FOlKlIFE PROGRAMS

AND CULTURAL STUDIES SMITHSO ~!/~ I !NSTITU ION

JOHN illMMEL Virtuoso of the Irish Accordion ORIGINAL RECORDINGS 1906-1928

SELECTED BY GABRIEL LABBE AND PRODUCED BY RICHARD CARLIN

DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ARE INSIDE POCKET

FOLKWAYS RF 112

r FOLKWAYS RECORDS Album No. RF 112 1980 by Folkways Records & Service Corp., 43 West 61st ST., NYC, USA 10023

JOHN KIMMEL Virtuoso of the Irish Accordion

John Kimmel was one of the greatest performers on

the Irish diatonic button accordion who ever recorded.

Although of German extract, he mastered the complex

style ot Irish ornamentation. His medleys of jigs and

reels were great favorites among the Irish audience in

America, where he frequently performed on the Vaudeville

circuit. This album features some of his rarest and

earliest recordings and makes available a ~ide crcss-

section of his repertory, including novelty pieces,

German popular pieces, Americ~n and Irish tunes.

John Kimmel's Life

John Kimmel was born in Brooklyn on December 13,

1866 to German immigrant parents. At what age did

he start playing? Who was his teacher? We may never

know the answers to these questions. What we do know

from listening to his recordings is that he had a gift

that no one can equal.

We know little of Kimmel's life story, although we

do know that he was a saloon keeper who also performed

in the early years of vaudeville. Kimmel played with

the "Elite Musical Four, II a group consisting of himself,

Joe Linder, the pianist who was to be his accompanist on

almost all of his classic recordings, and two other

musicians. In 1906, Kimmel opened a bar in a popular

section of Brooklyn. In a corner of the room he built a

stage where he performed with his vaudeville band

short skits and popular musical numbers Kimmel played

piano, cornet, xylophone and saxophone at one time or

another in this group, 41though his true lova was

the accordion. Patrick F. Stedman, Brooklynite who

knew Kimmel and the quartet, recalls that they used to

rllhearse "four or five nights a week in an undertaking

e,tablishment on Court street .. They practicm their

Kimmel played the accordion as background music

for silent films. His recording career ran from the

earliest days of cylinder recording through the intro-

duction of electric recording techniques, although his

greatest recordings were made between 1908 - 1918.

He can also be heard on several novelty records, including

possibly a record by the comic duo of Arthur Collins and

Byron G. Harlau called "My Gal Irene," which features

accordion interludes that were probably played by Kimmel,

a comic record by Steve Porter called "Thim Were the

Happy Days," and a Victor demonstration record

released to dealers called "The Irresistible Accordion."

Kimmel died of pneumonia at the King's County

hospital in Brooklyn on September 18, 1942. Ha was 75

years old. His death certificate gave his occupation

as "musician."

Kimmel's Recording Career

John Kimmel's first record was made in 1903; it

was a popular song called "Bedelia" and was released

by the Zon-o-phone company (No. 5906). It appeared

on both seven and nine inch discs. Following this

first recording, Kimmel recorded an "Irish Jigs and

Reels Medley" (no. 6006), and three other nine inch

records "Irish Reel Medley" (No. 6047), "AmeriCan

Polka" (No. 6060) and "Straight Jig Medley" (No. 6071).

In 1905, at the age of thirty-nine, Kimmel recorded

two ten inch records for Zon-o-phone: "American clog"

(No. 212) and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (No. 234; actually

George M. Cohan's "Yankee Doodle Boy," not the popular

revolutionary war song). He recorded ten or so records

in all for this company.

On these early records and on all of his

records until his very last recordings, Kimmel was

expertly accompanied on the piano by Joe Linder. Linder

was born in Brooklyn on January 23, 1870 and died in 1943.

He was also apparently of German extract. Unlike

singing lnd playing their skits." many other recording artists who were plagued with

Through his career as a saloon owner, Kimmel performed unsympathetic and untalented accompanists, Kimmel

and also hired other vaudeville performer., including was fortunate to be recording with a pianist who

Joe Schenk, Gus Van and a young Brooklynite named Mae knew his repertory, had a good knowledge of both

West. His last bar, nAmed liThe Accordion," was located

in Queens, but was not terribly successful. Prohibition

had corne and Kimmel refused to break the law and sell

alcoholic beverages.

Irish and novelty music and apparently also helped

with arranging and even composing some of Kimmel's

popular records.

Kimmel began recording with Edison in May, 1906 For any accordion player who would like to learn

and continued with the firm until they closed in 1929. Kimmel's style, it is inconceivable to use less than

He also recorded for Columbia, Victor, and countless three fingers on the right hand. Kimmel loved to play

smaller firms including Emerson, Silvertone, Perfect, in octaves, which requires the use of four fingers.

Velvet Tone, and Regal. Kimmel recorded forty cylinders Many of the difficult passages in his pi e ces d e mand

and 78 rpm records for Columbia and Edison, whereas the use of four fingers. Kimmel found a personal me thod

his production was limited to discs at Victor. to control the bellows of the accordion by putting very

The most popular of his Edison recordings were "The little pressure on them with his left hand, allowing

Kimmel March," uThe Homeward March," "Oh Gee!,n and his right hand to exert most of the force. This is how

"Medley of Irish Reels." he achieved the clarity and brilliance of his sound.

At Victor, his "Isnsh Boy March" (same as "Kimmel March"), Kimmel made only limited use of his bass notes. He also

"Minor March" and "American Polka" were the most successful,

and remained in the catalogue for years. His medley

of "The Geese in the Bog" backed with "Stack of Barley, ,.

recorded in January, 1917, was in the catalogue as late

as 1933!

In the early Edison catalogues, Kimmel's name

was misspelled as Kimmble." Also, . many of his

compositions and arrangements were credited to

a certain "Edgar De Veau," probably a pseudonymn

for Kimmel himself. On some records, Joe Linder

is given line credit as arranger. Undoubtedly, the

two discussed their arrangements together.

Kimmel's last recordings were made in 1929 for

Edison, and were released as "Ed::ison Diamond Discs"

in the early months of 1929. Unfortunately, sales

of these records had dropped tremendously I the

Edison process of making records was outmoded by more

modern grooved records. For this reason, these

last recordings are among the most difficult to find.

Kimmel's Style

Philippe Bruneau, the talented French Canadian

accorcHon player, says this of Kimmel's style:

His playing is very difficult to imitate. Anyone who would want to play like Kimmel would have to devote himself to 20 or 30 years of practice. This person would also have to have a natural musical capability, otherwise he might as well give up at the start.

Generally, Kimm9~ used a diatonic accordion, with

a lO-button keyboard in the key of "D." He probably

had either a "Sterling" or "Monarch" accordion (imported

from Germany). These accordions are sometimes called

"melodians" today. They are distinguished by four

set. of steel reeds that is to say four registers:

a picolo, bass and two mediums for the right hand,

and two basses, "D" when the bellows are pushed, and

"A" when they are pulled open. There is also a button

for air rele.le which serves to control the bellows.

sought to go beyond the limitations of the "0" scale

of his accordion, exploring such diverse keys as "G,"

"Em," "A," "Bm," and "Flm."

His style can be summed up by this amusing excerpt

from the Edison musical magazine Along Broadway published

in 1920:

The fellow who writes things for the Encylcopedia Britannica said in describing the accordion tha-t "this, the smallest of the organ family, in the hands of a skillful performer is not entirely without artistic beauty.1I It is a safe wager tha